Thread: Religious flyers passed out in front of the haunted house

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Of course, they all say you'll go to hell if you go in the haunted house. We have called the police numerous times and chased them off. What is nice is how the patrons ignore them too. Once they try to block the haunt, it becomes a legal matter and the police can run them off for trying to keep us from doing business.

In fact, I am a Christian, but people often don't like the fact that I do this. I tell them that is fine. They are entitled to their 'very own' opinion.

Many folks have made off-the-cuff remarks just out of the blue, trying to be sly about it, and might ask "Is it worth it?" And I say "Is WHAT worth it?" Then they say "You know, doing the Devil's work, going to hell.... Is it worth it for the joy you get from it now?"

I always just chuckle and ignore them, unless they come back again and start irritating me. "What do you have against Halloween?" I ask. "It is the Devil's day" is the response! "And everyone who is associated with it is going to hell!"

This is a common beginning to what often becomes a situation that gets a little out of control. Fortunately, the "out of control" part is always the person who verbally attacked me.

You see, I always seem to be lucky enough to have a way of getting the upper hand in these situations, as I have been in them many times before, and I have an argument that is foolproof. Whenever people start questioning me directly about my religious beliefs, I tell them I am Christian. They will snicker and tell me I cannot be Christian AND help run a haunted house. They tell me I can't have it both ways. I am in no way putting down anyone's religion. I just want to open their eyes further.

I ask them how dedicated they are to Christianity and the Christian Church, and they say they are fully dedicated and that their faith is pure. Well then, if they are THAT dedicated, then they should embrace Halloween since it was promoted by the Christian Church. At this point, all I get is a bunch of crap from them about how I am lying and I'm still going to hell, and of course, I offer to explain. As always, they want to hear my side of the story.

The truth is, back in the 9th century, Popes Gregory III & IV changed the holiday "All Martyrs Day" (now known as All Saints Day) from the spring to the fall. The day that was chosen was November 1st, which directly places it in line with Samhain. This is important, because it coincided with the festival of the Celts, which really was Pagan in its roots. The problem now is, that any one of the overly religious folks that show up at our haunted house will say that the Pope did this to try to throw a clean layer of Christianity over the Celtic festival and make it more Christian-like, and get away from it's pagan roots. Basically the argument that the Pope wanted to do away with the Celtic holiday by replacing it with All Saints Day may have been actually true. But why did it happen? Why did the Pope go through all the trouble to move the day more than 6 months later in the year?

The answer? The Pope wanted to recruit more people into Christianity. They figured that if they moved their own sacred holiday to coincide with Samhain, they would be able to convert the Celts to Christianity. It happened allright, but the Celts didn't take the bait and they continued to celebrate Samhain anyway. Sounds silly, huh? That the Christian Church would sacrifice their own beliefs and embrace parts of Samhain to gain extra members. You won't hear most modern-day Christians talk about this (except Halloween lovers) as they would prefer people don't know about it. It just gives them the upper hand in their argument. Of course, once you bring it up, they don't have a lot to say anymore....I simply tell them that THEY can't have it both ways. It is true, Halloween has Christian ties, and it came from the Pope. Is there any Christian out there that is going to denounce the Pope? I didn't think so...

Now, if this doesn't work, just ask the folks what the Devil hates most. Ask them and they'll tell you, that to make fun of the devil and mock him is the biggest insult that can be made. After all, that's what we're doing, right? Making fun of the devil, the most powerful insult to Satan is just that....no Christian has ever disagreed with me after that about Halloween, unless they're simply unable to come to grips with the fact that they were wrong.

Great post!

You should also point out to your nay-sayers all the pagan trappings they put in and around their house for the winter solstice celebration... oh sorry I mean Christmas.

And lest we forget! All the pagan fertility symbols (Eggs, lambs, bunnies, etc.)
that abound during this most holy time of the Spring Equinox......er.. I mean Easter.
It REEEEEEEEALY seems to yank their chains if you tell them that Hell is a construct
of the human mind and any Hell that we experience we've made for ourselves here on Earth
and as such you denounce it's existence for you have decided that you don't need to experience it.

DB

Being raised as a Roman Catholic, but interested in all things "evil", and now being of a more open mind, without Satan, where exactly would the Catholic church be? Everything preached is to denounce or destroy Satan, so would I be wrong in saying that without Satan the Church would be "lost". If following that logic, surely no one should have a problem "giving him one day" in order to have the other 364. I know that I'll probably burn in hell for these statements, but just playing devil's advocate. LOL

Hey Skeletal, you are a virtual cesspool of information! Pneumatics, Religious History, what's next? Alex, I'll take Mandarin Folklore for $500. Just kidding, great info.

Hey Budman, funny you should mention Mandarin Folklore! You see, familiar stories such as the Romance of the Butterflies – Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai, were given alternative voices through his (Confucius) interpretation, which necessitate the....


oh, what the hell, I'm just kidding.....

Originally Posted by SkeletalRemains

Is there any Christian out there that is going to denounce the Pope? I didn't think so...

Well, hold up there a moment. I completely agree with the thrust of your post, yes indeedy, but as a Catholic I can tell you that a LOT of other Christian denominations despise the entire concept of the Papacy; in fact one of the main reasons there ARE denominations other than Catholicism is outrage over the existence of a Pope.
Some Christians feel that the Pope represents an immoral, idolatrous obstacle between God and His people, and is therefore the work of Satan, if not Satan himself trying to ruin us yet again. I've been told this by Baptists, Protestants, Pentecostals, and other denominations... which isn't to say all members of those denominations believe that, but you'd be amazed at how many do.
I have been told that being Catholic is essentially being a Satan worshiper, and at the very least is not truly Christian. Amazing but true.
I am entirely for arming one's self with historical, factual information in order to fight the ignorance and silliness of the fundamentalists and anti-Halloween mindset, absolutely.
But the Pope ain't got the 'cred' among non-Catholics that he once enjoyed, so that argument never worked for me.
I like the 'mocking the Devil' tack at the end of your post, I use that myself and it can be very effective.
You can also point out to the religious flyer crowd that the Devil usually depicted on Halloween doesn't exist and never did; the horned, hooved, goat-ish Devil didn't exist in artworks of any kind until AFTER St. Odilio of Cluny got the Church to supplant Samhain with All Saints Day in 998.
The goat was revered by the peoples of the British Isles as a beast of burden, but also as a giver of milk and cheese, sometimes meat, skin, and so on. One of the quickest ways to subvert an older religion (remember, they didn't call themselves pagans, the Church did!) is to turn their most beloved imagery into icons of the new religion's Enemy.
So when they protest your grinning Devil face decorations or forked tail costume, you can tell them they're frightened of cardboard, felt and simple history.
Then again, most Christians are not really good at making intelligent decisions based on a decent memory of historical truth.

Mike C.

All Good stuff here.....yeah most holidays are of pagan origin check out the books Babylon mystery religion or the 2 Babylons.....I'm a Christain too.....Christmas is the most interesting......people say keep him in it.....well most scholars know he was never born in Dec. to begin with....he was born in the fall around Sept. 11th to be be precise.....again as known by many scholars.....yet we still prance on with the the traditions of Dec.as pagan as it is....and I still enjoy all the holidays even if they are a bit misplace.

SkeletalRemains, You lucky dog! I've been hoping for a lynch mob for years now. LOL

I got flyer as a kid. It really made me mad. It left me thinking these people were accusing my parents of devil worshipping. I threw it away.

A few years back I got a group of folks that started to hand me a flyer. At the time I was manning the candy. I told them I'd take the flyer if they would hear me out first. I told them if you take away all the decorations and costumes you end up with the act of giving to strangers without judgment. Halloween IS the most Christian holiday we have. They handed my their flyer. Turned out to be a scripturaly accurate story out of the old testament. Really nice 12 or so page booklet with lots of pictures. I think I still have it somewhere.

As a Jesus freak I'll let ya'll in on a little secret. If they're accusing you, there NOT a Christian. There may be a few misguided and even meaningful folks who for some reason or another don't know any better. But for the most part these folks love to hate. They rally around anything that makes them better than folks around them. There are warnings of this type of behavior all over the new testament. But that wouldn't apply to them. LOL

The next time you get a condemning flyer or someone verbally condemns you, be very polite and thank them for showing you hate and unforgiveness. You might help make them a better Christian.

Hey guys and gals,

This is why I love this forum. Where else can we all talk about issues such as these in a decent manner, and have an intelligent conversation, rather than hate-spewing and name calling with an accusational tone? It amazes me to see the wealth of diverse knowledge coming from such a wide spectrum of people.

Thanks for the knowledge, as I have learned much just from the last few posts!

BTW, the "mocking the devil" argument nearly always works. Sometimes I simply find that people despise Halloween, simply because they think they have to! Once I throw out the argument above, I notice that people relax a little more, and a couple have even allowed their kids to come up to the haunt to act!